News:
Many of our kits are now delivered with CNC cut jigs. The jig is assembled like a puzzle. In most cases, the builder does not even need a tape measure. The jig is self-aligning: it is very difficult to make a mistake.
Start :: Assemble pieces and jig :: Stitching the hull :: Fiberglass outside of hull :: Fairing and priming the outside of the hull :: Building the inside :: Final finishing
Fairing and priming the outside of the hull
After the bottom laminations have cured, use a fairing board and grinder/sander to knock down the obvious ridges and hard edges of glass
Mix up a loose fairing slurry made from blended filler and MarinEpoxy. This fairing slurry needs to be thick enough that it will not sag. If you are have purchased the System Three Silvertip kit, you would use QuickFair, and there is no guess work. Using a plastic spreader to drag the slurry or Quick Fair over the edges of the glass layers. (TIP: a long 20"+ dry wall type spreader is VERY NICE)
When the slurry has cured, use the fairing board again. The fairing sheets are 60 grit. At this stage we are shaping more than smoothing/fairing. Use the long board starting at a 45 degree angle from the keel, then 90 degrees from that then lengthwise.
You will see we are putting the rub rail on at this time. The rub rail is glued to the hull with the same epoxy glue mixture as used for the butt blocks. If you have the Silvertip kit, use Gelmagic or EZ fillet.
(TIP:when gluing the multiple layers of rub rail, use the longer pieces towards the bow where the most bending occurs and spread your seams evenly - this will help eliminate flat spots or kinks in the rail. )
After the initial fairing, some pits and low spots will remain. Mix a thicker fairing paste and spot fill those areas. On this boat we moved to Quick Fair at this stage (it's the lighter color fairing compound you see in the below picture). Quick Fair is much better than any fairing putty you can mix yourself.
Again, we use the long board to shape. Now we are ready for some primer (although the fairing is not complete). We use System Three high build epoxy primer. Much of the first primer application will be sanded off. The primer fills in small scratches and pin holes. These pictures shows the hull with about 1 quart of primer.
For a "work boat" level of finish, just sand the primer with 220 grit paper and paint. For a better finish, follow the next few steps. on our FS12 we finished the outside to a "yacht" standard, but we left the inside "work boat" style.
Apply a guide coat to primed hull, (lightly spray the hull with a quick dry primer or pattern maker dye, just a very slight mist is all that is required).
When the guide coat is dry, sand the hull with the fairing board. Low spots will stand out as areas where guide coat has gone untouched by the fairing board. In the high spots, you will sand through guide coat and primer all the way down to the darker base of fairing. It is now very easy to distinguish high and low spots as these pictures demonstrate. Finish removing guide coat with a machine sander and 120 grit paper - but do not remove any more primer than is necessary to get rid of guide coat. In addition to providing a contrast to see highs/lows, the guide coat also helps to keep you from sanding off too much primer!
Fill the large and deep low spots with more Quick Fair, the next application of high build primer will fill most of what remains. Now roll on more primer. Do not worry about sanding it, we will save that until we are ready for paint.